 How many and what sizes do you lovely people use? Oh, and what gets packed into which one?
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 I have a Ex-ped dry-bag inside a 35 litre pack, and that's big enough to hold everything I need for weeks on end. Inside the dry-bag I do use smaller ultra-lightweight dry-bag, but not to keep stuff dry, just to keep similar items together. I chop and change between all sorts of bags. My ultra-lightweight tent came in an enormous, floppy bag that I still haven't found a use for. The tent now lives in a bag that was actually made for a sleeping bag liner! I find a large dry-bag is perfect for keeping all my kit dry, but I like the idea of being able to lift smaller bags full of stuff out of my pack.
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So do I Paddy, keeps it all nice and organised, just not sure of the sizes, and how many i would need. Going to be alternating between a 33ltr and 50ltr pack depneding on where i am going and when i am going.
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 45 litre exped dry bag in which sleeping bag dry clothes go... 8 litre bag food and cook set. 5 litre first aid kit head torch handy wipes ect to go in top pocket on lid. 3 litre holds camera phone ect again lid pocket.
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I've only bought a couple of small dry-bags. I find that lots of things (like my tent) come in the 'wrong' sized bag, so I just keep collecting all kinds of bags in all different sizes. I just dip into the box and pull out two or three of the right size for whatever I'm packing. DW - I don't use a dry-bag for my camera. When I'm walking, it's ready to shoot. When it rains, I take my waterproofs out of my pack, and fill the resulting space with the camera!
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| Edited: 18/07/08 09:49 |
With the SLR i do the same Paddy but if the weather is miserable and i've just got the compact camera it goes in the top pocket with any other electrical gadgets.
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Many times I've blessed the name of Ortlieb for manufacturing a small mapcase that's ideal for carrying my Psion. I can type through the cover and rattle off pages for a guidebook, even in torrential rain!
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 I use a large plastic rubble sack as a liner. Sleeping bag and water-sensitive gear go in seperate sil-nylon stuff sacks. I use frameless packs, so depending on pack, the sleeping mat is rolled up and inserted vertically to create a 'frame'. Gear is then stored inside the mat. Or the mat is folded flat to create a back panel. Water-proofs, windproof and water bottle are carried in side mesh pockets for easy access. My shelter is carried in a back mesh pocket. I do it this way so that i can don waterproofs or set up my shelter in the rain without opening my pack, and possibly letting water in.
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 Paddy, as it is the second time you've mentioned it this week, I thought I'd tap you for recommendations on Psion servicing - where do you get yours repaired? One of my 5mx's has developed (again) a screen cable fault and I'm trying to judge whether to get that repaired, or get the batteries on the Revo (unused for some time) repaired. As we regard your walking and camping advice so highly, I thought I'd rope 'psion repairs' in there too. 
[Edited to add smiley!]
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| Edited: 18/07/08 12:05 |
 Psion organiser Paddy?? They still going? Much used and loved by some of the older surveying fraternity! I use a ortileb dry bag, about 30 ltrs I think, but the bloody thing weighs over 500g!!! Are those exped dry bags any lighter, or any other light weight alternatives??
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 I organise my gear in Exped sacks of various sizes & labelled,i just throw them in & dont use a bigger pack liner,just like Simon from Trail who got the idea off someone called Ray in Scotland!
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Ok thanks for the advice, i have just ordered the 4 pack of exped dry bags from Cave & Crag here. And i have just found the same thing cheaper here bugger! Oh well it is only a couple of squid different.
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I would have liked to have thought that PDAs would be amazingly wizz bang now, but each time I analyse the market they're still really lacking. People put up with trying to use mobile phones as organisers, but it is all lacking: no decent keyboard, no decent diary or contacts store (the Psion stuff still takes some beating), no word processor or spreadsheet included. I can't believe what people put up with compared to what Psion PDA users expect. I have to say, though, that I haven't brought mine 'out into the field', but then I'm not making a living from writing books like Paddy does.
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I have one free rucksack liner that came with a magazine over 10 years ago. It is plastic and capable of fitting probably about 65l. It is tough and has a few duct tape repairs. I just put my sleeping bag, spare clothes and anything else that must be kept dry in it then twist and roll the top over. I also have a small exped for wallet, keys and head torch. This was bought to use in the top pocket of my sack and in a kayak while paddling. It is not durable and waterproof enough to use in the kayak as it leaked the first time I used it. Still good enough inside a sack's top pocket. I might get a large sil-nylon sea to sea dry bag today for next weeks trip to replace my free liner. Although it is easier to crush air out the the free liner as you never really seal it. This allows me to stuff everything into it loose then squashing it down to half the volume. My tent, waterproofs, cooking gear, food and other such gear goes on top either in no bag or the stuff sack / cover they came with. I think the technique of separate stuff sacks just to organise your bag is a waste as you are adding weight for unecessary reasons. I find I always pack the loose stuff outside the only liner "dry" bag in a similar way each time as I try to pack stuff the most efficient way to maximise space. I find efficient use of space maximises the organisation of stuff in my sack. I also find once the lightweight tent is pitched I generally have most of the stuff out of my sack including the dry spare clothes and other dry stuff, but these are in the liner bag.
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If you want the lightweight dry bags sea to sea do taped sil-nylon dry bags with a tougher material at the opening where it rolls up. A XL bag, about 33l, weighs 76g!
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I organise my gear in Exped sacks of various sizes & labelled,i just throw them in & dont use a bigger pack liner,just like Simon from Trail who got the idea off someone called Ray in Scotland! Did you see the weight of Simons 'light' sack? 
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Re: Psion enquiries above... Yep... there just isn't an organiser on the face of Planet Earth that comes remotely close to a Psion. If anyone begs to differ and wishes to convince me that there's something better, then I'm keen to hear about it. The keyboard is (excuse the pun) the key to its supreme versatility above anything else on the market. It's actually designed for people who can type with more than one finger, while 'modern' ogranisers are designed to be used by people who can only type with one thumb! So, as I need to be able to type all my route directions while I'm actually walking, and edit entire chapters in the evening, ready to start the next day with a blank screen, that's the type of technology I'm looking for. Anyway... repairs... I think I'm right in saying that all the actual bits and pieces of Psion (but not the actual company or its name) were bought up by Pinnock Organiser Services, or POS for short. I've used them a number of times, but I have to admit that I've been alarmed at their recent price hikes. Currently, no matter what the problem is, you can expect to pay just over £100 for a basic repair, which always includes a full service anyway. Tell you something, I'd love to know where they get their industrial strength batteries from. They always change the batteries before sending stuff back, and their batteries last two or three times longer than anything I can get my hands on. Meanwhile... here's the link for repairs.
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If you use a load of seperate s/sacks you can end up with a lot of dead space. Try packing a load of footballs as an example. 
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Mike - that's why they have to be carefully packed, and my method is to basically crush appropriate things into appropriate spaces to get rid of all the dead space. Things like sleeping bags and clothes, even when inside small dry-bags, will still deform sufficiently to fill dead space, but in the case of a bag of clothes, the whole lot can be fished out in one go. The great thing about sil-nylon bags is how easily they slip past each other when you're squashing them in or pulling them out. I use a bag to hold all my maps and other bits of paper, which basically all lie flat anyway, and keeping them in a bag keeps them all together. Never mind the football analogy... I reckon you can't squash raw eggs into your pack without making an absolute mess of things!
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 i use a large sil nylon liner bag within which stuff is, well, stuffed to fill up the gaps. usable things (e.g. batteries bits and bobs, first aid, cooking stuff) are in smaller orange (alpkit) bags so they're easy to see and extract. if you don't have coloured bags put some ribbon (or cordage of your choice) around the top so you know what's in what bag rather than the fun of pot luck. usuable things are usually in a small mesh bag inside the orange bag. e.g. i need a new battery, reach into bag, find small orange bag, pull out mesh bag (which allows you to see everything inside it, get new battery, reverse procedure) the convenience of being able to immediately locate something in your bag far outweighs the minimal extra weight.
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